A beloved Japanese candy eaten by generations, so iconic it even appeared in a hit anime film, has come to the end of the line, a victim of surging raw material and energy prices.
Tokyo-based Sakumaseika Co said on Wednesday that it would go out of business in January due to rising production costs, a labour shortage and a drop in sales of its main product “Sakuma’s Drops.”
The discontinuation of its trademark candy – hard, colourful fruit drops sold in a red steel can – threw Japan into mourning.
Sakumaseika said it hadn’t raised the price of the product, which consists of eight flavours such as strawberry and lemon, for years. Many Japanese firms remain hesitant to raise prices at all or fully pass on surging input costs out of fear of losing customers.
Established in 1908 by confectioner Sojiro Sakuma, Sakumaseika produced the candy through the air raids of World War Two, inspiring anime giant Studio Ghibli to immortalize it in its 1988 film “Grave of the Fireflies.”
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